OpenGL News Archives

FastCut is a video editor for Mac OS X. The v2 RT-Engine is based on OpenGL to benefit from hardware acceleration. Once video frames are uploaded to the video memory of a graphics card, they are manipulated in real-time on a pixel-per-pixel basis by CoreImage and used as textures on geometric objects in a 3D OpenGL world.

The STDK is a multimedia applications creation software, specially designed for games. Every application created with the STDK can run on many platforms, inside or outside a web browser. The standalone and web players use OpenGL API for hardware accelerated rendering on Windows and Mac OS X, and OpenGL ES API for embeded terminals, like PDAs and mobile phones. The new v1.1.0 adds a simplified AI system and bugfixes.

LightWorks is an advanced photorealistic rendering solution using the OpenGL API for all types of market and applications. The new v7.6, adds “Final Gather” to calculate lighting automatically, an enhanced development framework for integration into other applications, new shaders, and support for Microsoft Visual C++ version 8, 64-bit Windows on Intel/AMD, and Universal Binary on Mac OS.

Amazing Curves Racing renders real-time tessellated curved surfaces using the OpenGL API and computes physics interaction directly on the curved surfaces. Rendered surfaces are smooth with no visible triangles. Driving on curved surfaces is very smooth; bumpiness is added using cubic displacement maps where needed. Polygon-physics discontinuities are not present. Network play and physics interaction is lag-free for typical internet connections and scales gracefully to higher pings (300ms and higher). A public game server has been set up for online beta testing. The game will run on any OpenGL API-based hardware, Pentium-M 1.7 or P4 2.8 class CPU, 512MB or higher recommended.

The BS Off-Screen Library consists of a set of OpenGL classes in C++ source code that interface directly to GPU for computational intensive and costly calculations such as matching algorithms. The results of these computations can then be handed to the rendering pipeline of BS Contact VRML/X3D for visualization. This saves time during the rendering and display phase as many calculations can be done in parallel on the graphics cards GPU and on the CPU of the computer.

MeshLab is an open source portable and extensible system for the editing and automatic processing of unstructured 3D triangular meshes, in particular it works on the not-so-small 3D models found in 3D scanning. It provides a set of tools for editing, cleaning, healing, inspecting, rendering and converting this kind of large unstructured meshes. Feautres include import/export in many formats , cleaning filters, and efficient OpenGL API shader-based rendering (comptible with TyphoonLabs’ ShaderDesigner) in high resolution (up to 16k x 16k) for high quality printing and wiht the new v0.7 it can work with large meshes (~10 Million of triangles).

Chronic Logic has released a free contest version of the OpenGL API-based Bridge Construction Set (BCS) video game in which you design and build bridges and then stress test them to see how your creations hold up under pressure. This special contest release allows new users to experience some of the excitement of BCS. Contest prizes include an ATI Radeon X1600 Pro 256MB PCIe, an ATI Radeon X1300 Pro 256mb PCIe, both great video cards with full OpenGL 2.0 support.

BumpTop is a prototyp for a new desltop metaphor tha behaves in a more physically realistic manner using piling instead of filing. Programs and files can be casually shuffled around and are influenced by physical characteristics such as friction and mass, much like you would manipulate lightweight objects in the real world. You can throw a bunch of similar objects on a pile to represent stuff you’ll get to later, or stack them neatly to represent stuff you’ve already seen. BumpTop runs in real-time on a Toshiba M200 TabletPC with a 1.6 Ghz CPU, 1 GB RAM and a GeForce FX Go 5200 graphics card. The prototype is written with C++, OpenGL and GLUT. Rigid body dynamics and collision detection are provided by the NovodeX Physics SDK.

GarageGames has released Torque Game Builder, a 2D engine which can handle incorporation of of 3D objects and features such as parallax scrolling allow users to create pseudo-3D games and environments. It features animated sprites, flexible tiles, networking, a special effects system, collision detection, real world physics, scripting, and OpenGL API hardware-accelerated 2D rendering. Includes source code with your license.

Shake is one of the premier tools for video compositing and effects, and has been used in numerous Oscar winning productions. It supports 32-bit Keylight and Primatte keying, cutting-edge Optical Flow image processing, smooth stabilization, image tracking, and OpenGL-accelerated 3D multi-plane compositing so you match CGI-rendered elements with live-action scenes by importing 3D tracking data. Your layers remain highly interactive while you work, thanks to OpenGL hardware-accelerated previews. The new v4.1 priced at $499 lets you create Hollywood-caliber visual effects on a desktop - and on a budget.

Slam Soccer 2006 is a free funny football game in 3D-comic-style using Java and the OpenGL API via the LWJGL. It features 80 teams, 20 stadiums, keyboard and gamepad control, and a build your own stadium option. Available for Windows and Linux.

GLOD represents an extremely lightweight approach to Geometric Level of Detail toolkits. GLOD is not another scene graph library but instead is designed to closely mesh with the standard OpenGL programming model in such a way that using GLOD should be just like using standard OpenGL vertex arrays.

from-Z is a general purpose OpenGL API-based solid and surface modeler with an extensive set of 2D/3D form manipulating and sculpting capabilities. The new v6.0 will add mport/export support for the format of the Z Corp 3D printers that has the unique ability to carry color information. Virtual models created in form-Z will be able to be generated as physical prototype models in full color and textures. The new v6.0 will also add objectg-centric animation and enhanced modeling

In a new outreach towards the academic and especially non-academic communities alike, the Eurographics 2006 Graphics meets Games chairs have decided to relaunch the previously announced ‘Graphics meets Games’ competition with a significantly prolonged deadline, prizes and easier submission requirements! The task in the competition is to create a small 3D game that showcases a novel graphical effect or effects, that could be employed in a current or future 3D game. There is a special focus on interactivity and physics-based interaction. OpenGL developers are encouraged to contribute and show off new OpenGL 2.0 effects.